Con*triv"ance (?), n.
1.
The act or faculty of contriving, inventing, devising, or planning.
The machine which we are inspecting demonstrates, by its construction, contrivance and design. Contrivance must have had a contriver.
Paley.
2.
The thing contrived, invented, or planned; disposition of parts or causes by design; a scheme; plan; atrifice; arrangement.
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
Burke.
Syn. -- Device; plan; scheme; invention; machine; project; design; artifice; shift. See Device.
© Webster 1913.